Savory Sadism
by Saiyajin Princess Chichi
Summary: A year after Johnny tried to kill Devi, both find that they cannot get the other out of their head. Both find themselves gravitating toward one another. Will Johnny sway Devi's ways or the other way around? Warning: VERY GRAPHIC. RR
1. Denial

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor.

A/N: I recently got a serious craving for a dosage of JTHM, and began reading what I could find of Nny/Devi fanfiction (which is very rare I'm finding) So I started writing one of my own. Yes there are going to be graphic scenes in here of sex and killing….. If that is not your forte do not read.

Savory Sadism

Ch1: Denial

His thin pale form lingered over her thin yet curvy body, his hand placed on either side of her supporting his weight. He took her lips in a forceful kiss, his hands traveling down her smooth bare arms. His slender fingers wrapped around her wrists, yanking her arms up above her head, leaving her vulnerable beneath him on the well worn mattress. She squirmed under him, trying to move her legs but finding them restrained by him straddling her body. Her head lolled to the side as his lips left hers, his kisses moving to her neck, becoming nips and bites. He nipped the crook of her neck before biting down on her soft flesh, earning a gasp from her bruised lips.

She strained against his hold on her wrists, her fingers extending and grasping desperately at the air. He chuckled against her skin, his tongue flicking out to taste her once again, causing her to emit a small shriek of frustration. He moved both her wrists into one hand, freeing a hand to pull his pants off tossing them to the side, his now bare flesh hot against her already naked form. He smirked down at her, biting down on the skin just above her breast, her back arching toward his mouth urging him to continue on, kissing, nipping, and biting.

She leaned upward, latching onto his shoulder, sinking her teeth into him, drawing blood from his paper white flesh. He moved above her, positioning himself between her long slender legs, his dark eyes boring into hers, traveling down to her slightly parted lips. She wrenched her wrists from his grip, as he entered her, her legs immediately wrapping around his boney hips pulling him further into her. Her hands entangled themselves in his hair, yanking his head back as he thrust into her. She moaned out at the feeling of him within her.

"Nnnnyy!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Devi shot straight up from her spot on the mattress, a cold sweat coating her pale face. Her pupils dilated in the darkness of the room, her eyes searching the dark corners for any sign of him.

It had been a year, she had lived in complete fear or so she had thought. Sickness had done a damn good job of convincing her that she could easily enjoy his company, and that she would enjoy being like him, becoming somewhat of a partner in crime. She had avoided him at all costs of course, going as far as quitting her job, having Tenna do her shopping, not even leaving to see her father; he always came there to visit her. It had its benefits as well, she had gotten a job as a graphic designer, her boss had even allowed her to work out of her home, and she and Tenna had become a hell of a lot closer.

After convincing herself that it was safe and that she was indeed the only person in the room, her body relaxed, and slumping back down to the mattress with her blanket wrapped tightly around her slender form. Devi brushed a few stray strands of purple hair away from her eyes, wondering if she would ever get a good night sleep again. She walked into her living room, making her way to the door and flipping the light switch to ON. She carefully checked all the deadbolts on her door before moving to make sure that her windows were indeed locked securely as well. As soon as she felt secure with her apartment lock system she made her way back into her bedroom. She threw open the closet door, half expecting to find him there lurking in the shadows, but all she found was clothing and boots. Shutting the closet she flopped back down onto the mattress, securing the blanket around her body once again attempting to subside the chills running through her body.

_You're just dieing to see him aren't you? You aren't afraid of him anymore, you're afraid of what he'll become to you._

Devi blinked a few times, her heart skipping a beat. She had destroyed sickness, made sure she was gone, what they hell was she doing back here; back in her head.

_I don't need a physical body to survive, I'm in your head, part of you. That's why I'm still here._

Devi sighed and laid her head back on the down pillow, her head sinking into the soft fluff. Her eyes traveled over the bare white ceiling of her bedroom, the light from the street lamp outside the building dancing on her ceiling playing games with the shadows as cars passed by.

Her eyes trailed to the picture frame on her nightstand, stuck into the side of the frame was a thin strip of pictures from one of the photo machines at the mall. Her eyes focused in on the pictures, specifically locking onto the face of the one and only Nny. She sighed remembering that she had actually gotten him to go to the mall, he had been civil, she would even go as far to say that he had fun being out in public with her. Why she kept the pictures on her nightstand was beyond her, she hadn't even been able to look at anything that reminded her of him for the first 4 months after his attempt on her life. She had definitely gotten better.

_You miss him, you liked him, deal with it. You know you don't fear him anymore. _

"Do me a favor and shut the fuck up. Jeez I thought I was rid of you."

Devi rolled over facing the wall, her eyes scanning over a few of her paintings that were hanging up. Her eyes began to slip shut as the darkness surrounded her for the last time that night. Her conscious mind began to blur and images ran freely through her head as she fell into a deep sleep. Devi mumbled in her sleep, her hands gripping at the blanket surrounding her body.

"..Nny…."


	2. Haunted

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor.

A/N: This story is graphic in a sexual and violent way. Putting that warning out there for the readers. If this is not your thing, just turn away now. Otherwise Enjoy. R/R

Savory Sadism

Ch 2: Haunted

Nny slammed the front door shut, bolting it behind him, the lock clicking loudly into place. He plopped down on the well worn futon, his fingers quickly working to unbuckle and unlace the knee high steel toed boots he wore on a daily basis. He stared down at the plastic bag on the floor before him, wondering exactly what had possessed him to go to the grocery store in search of real food for the house. Standing from his spot on the couch he made his way toward the kitchen with the groceries, noting that the house somehow seemed much cheerier. He reminded himself that the brighter appearance of the house was probably due to the fresh coat of blood that had been very recently applied, but not to feed the thing, it was more of a spur of the moment creative thing. What amused him the most was that he hadn't even been the one to get his hands dirty.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as the basement door was tossed open, and a tall thin female pounced on him, her legs wrapping around his slim waist while her arms clung to his neck. He wrapped his arms around her body to prevent her from falling to the tiled floor below them. His eyes scanned downward taking in her appearance; she was clad in only black panties, a bra, and a very distinct coating of fresh blood. Small smudges adorned her pale face, accenting her dark makeup.

She kissed his cheek, a slight giggle emitting from the normally dark girl.

"Sorry I got carried away today, left a terrible mess downstairs, but it's still alive, I want to save it for later and finish playing then."

She moved to kiss his cheek again, but this time he turned into the kiss catching her lips forcefully with his own, his arms tightening around her further. He could taste the coppery taste of the blood on her lips as well as in her mouth, he began to wonder just how carried away she had actually gotten. He took a few steps forward slamming her back into the wall of the kitchen, pinning her between the solid surface and his own body. Her free hand began to roam his body as the kiss deepened. The evident sound of a knife clattering to the floor behind him caused him to smirk as her other hand moved to pull his hair. She yanked his head backward and away from her lips, immediately diving to kiss and bite at the exposed flesh of his throat.

He could feel himself hardening beneath her bottom, his frustration increasing as she squirmed to free her legs and set her feet on the floor. She pulled away from him pushing him backward causing him to stumble slightly, taking another step forward she pushed him again before his balance was regained. Her goal was reached as he tumbled backwards onto the dirty tile, landing on his butt in an extremely ungraceful manner. She crouched down to the floor, her hand quickly finding the knife before she crawled over to him, a predatorial gleam in her eyes. She pointed the large knife in his direction, licking her lips as a grin spread across her features. She straddled his waist, pushing his narrow shoulders down to the floor, her hands pinning his body down.

His breath caught in his throat and a chill of excitement crawled up his spine as she moved to remove his shirt. She glanced down at him, disappointed that he still had his stripped shirt on, in no time she took the large gleaming knife to the shirt cutting it up the center, missing his chin by only a hair. She dropped the knife again and began biting and kissing at his neck and collarbone. Her hands moved to his chest, first only resting there, but soon she was dragging her nails across the pale skin hard enough to draw blood. He hissed at her actions, his body reacting to her vicious assault on his body. He could hear the click of metal, but didn't choose to do the math. Johnny moved to grab her and pull her closer, but found himself unable to do so, the metal shackles now around his wrists held them securely together. He tugged his wrists forward to find that she had previously gone through the trouble of attaching the chain of the shackles to the wooden frame of the cabinets.

"No you little fucker, I had to plan this out before you got home. This time you are the one that is screwed, quite literally."

His eyes widened slightly, shock playing over in his head, momentarily wondering what he had done to get such a perverse, sick, sadistic, amazing woman. He was distracted from his thoughts as she began to remove his pants from his legs, yanking them away from his body and tossing them aside. She removed the skimpy black lingerie exposing herself completely to him. Leaning down to him she left bite marks all the way from his neck to his naval, grinning up at him each time, watching him squirm under her body. She straddled his hips, allowing his manhood to feel her warmth for a moment before impaling herself on him. The house around them seemed to disappear as he got lost in the feeling of her warmth and her nails digging into the flesh on his stomach, blood dripping from the crescent shaped wounds.

He could feel himself getting closer as her body bounced over his, his hands unable to touch her as they wanted to. Hearing her scream his name was more than enough to drive him to the edge, she leaned over him sinking her teeth into his shoulder as she held herself back. He squeezed his eyes shut, his arms tugging on his restraints. He lost control, the feeling of her and her alone causing him to come, screaming her name.

"DEVVVIII!!!"

Devi laid against his chest, her fingers tracing a scar on his chest that had presumably been previously made by her. She reached up and unlocked the restraints from his boney wrists, grinning from ear to ear her eyes fell upon his white face.

"You know we still have a toy alive to play with in the basement, we should probably go take care of that before it goes bad. Then I'll make us dinner."

Oh yea, that's why he had gone to the store.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Johnny bolted upright from his spot on the futon, the light from the television dancing across the room. Dammit, he had fallen asleep again; it had become increasingly worse for him. He rarely slept, and when he did he was haunted by her, and the possibility of perfection that he knew he could find with her.

_What happened to the guy who said they would tear their genitals off if aroused? These dreams you've been having lately prove otherwise Johnny. You can't become cold and you know it, you will be what you were born to be, stop denying it._

He dug his skeletal fingers into his dark hair trying to rid his mind of the image that was freshly burned into his skull, the vision of her green eyes scorching his memory. It drove him nuts, he had fucked up so badly and he knew it. The only time he was ever attracted to someone, actually liked someone, the only time he found someone who treated him like a human and he fucked it up.

This woman he had vowed to give his nothing to…. He knew he had to have her… he had to be her something. He didn't know how he would go about achieving this, but he would figure something out, because he simply could not go on living this way.

_You know you can't win her back by trying to kill her again. If I remember correctly last time you tried that it ended with you getting your ass kicked._

"Shutup Meat, I don't want your crap right now."

_You really like her, you care about her a lot don't you?_

Johnny closed his eyes taking a deep breath, his fingers tingling for the handle of a blade to fill his hand. Someone in the basement was waiting for his undivided attention, and he would be more than happy to give that attention to them. He had enough stress in his body to topple a cow, some good and healthy torture could easily take care of that tension.

Johnny stood from his seat on the futon, making his way into the kitchen; he grabbed a bloodied hatchet from the sink. He walked into the hallway and threw open the door to the basement sublevels, shutting the door behind him he made his descent. He could hear the screams for help ringing through the concrete rooms contained below, a grin spread across his face maniacally. He stopped at the bottom of the first flight of stairs, glancing into one of the many rooms on that level. Taking a few steps into the room he surveyed the man before him, dyed hair, piercings, tattoos, drawn out pale face, boney limbs, he had been down here for a few weeks, with the occasional sandwich being his only sustenance when Johnny actually remembered to bring food down between his ponderings.

He stood in front of the man shackled to the wall before him, he poked him with the blunt side of the hatchet checking for signs of life. His intrusion brought the man to consciousness.

"You little fucking faggot, let me the fuck outta here. We all fucking get it you have problems, you sick fuck. You need help, but let me the hell out of this place first." Johnny looked him over, cocking his head to the side slightly, a slight smirk playing on his thin lips.

"You know it's people like you that make me sick, humanity in general makes me sick, but you are a perfect example" He waved the hatchet in front of the mans face as he spoke, using the hatchet and his hands to emphasize his words.

"I never did nothing to you, you're fucking crazy." The man snorted before hocking a wad of saliva at Johnny. He cringed at the man's actions, a slight twitch becoming evident in his left eye as his smirk grew into a sick and twisted smile.

"You really are ignorant, to be proper it would be, I never did anything to you, not nothing. And yes, yes you did. I switched lanes to make a turn downtown, and when I pulled in front of you, you chose to honk at me, and swear at me out your window. And now, well, I'm afraid you've left me with no choice, I HATE BODILY FLUIDS, YOU DIGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT!" Johnny raised his arm wiping the spit from his cheek, he peeked over his arm before swinging the hatchet forward and through the man's right arm, freeing his body partially from its restraints against the wall. The man screeched in pain as his body dangled from his remaining arm, blood pouring out of the spot where the limb had been severed. Johnny smiled and shook his head; reeling back he swung the hatchet forward again, this time coming into contact with the man's unprotected torso. Blood squirted from the new wound, Johnny quickly sidestepped avoiding the spray of blood, keeping his clothing and face free from this mans fluids.

The man screamed in pain, arching away from the freshly inflicted wounds, whimpers falling from his lips. He began to beg, plead for his life, only to find that his pleas were falling on deaf ears. His body spasmed from the shock of the wounds inflicted upon him, his vision blurring slightly from the loss of blood.

"You know, I feel like so many people are ungrateful these days. I mean yes I tried to kill her, but it was only so that we could both remain happy, but she didn't appreciate my gesture at all. But someone like you probably wouldn't understand such a caring gesture either. Although I do wish I could become numb and cold to feelings, it was quite a caring gesture on my part." Johnny watched the man's head loll to the side, tears streaking his bloody face, and drool dripping slightly from his dried and cracked lips.

"You sick fuck."

Johnny shook his head, a frown forming upon his lips. "See what I mean, everyone is so ungrateful." He pulled back one arm, swinging the hatchet forward horizontally he hit the man in the neck, cutting through the flesh, arteries, muscles and spine in one motion. His head fell to the floor with a heavy thud, blood pooling around the severed article.

"I'm really not fond of blood." He repositioned his grip on the handle of the hatchet, turning away from the now limp and slightly mauled body of the man still attached to the wall. Johnny made his way back up the stairs. He tossed the hatchet back into its place in his kitchen sink before wiping the blood from his gloves with a hand towel.

_Nny what do you intend on doing? You should go into town, get out of the house, it'll do you some good._

"Nah I've got other things to do today."

_You're not going to go see her are you?_

"None of your business Meat, besides shouldn't you know what I'm thinking?

_I was trying to give you privacy._

"Whatever. You know what I am going downtown, be back tonight."

Johnny grabbed his trench coat off of the bloodied coat rack; he slipped his thin arms into the sleeves. He bolted out the door slamming it behind him, not even bothering to lock up the house, not like anyone would break in anyway. He snatched the car keys out of the deep pocket in the coat and hopped into the broken down gray car.

The engine revved to life, the tires screeching to a start as he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal.


	3. Stalker

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor. I also do not own Shakespeare or his work Hamlet.

A/N: IF YOUR GOING TO READ THE DAMN STORY REVIEW FOR GODDESS SAKE!!!!!!!! Killing me here, and unless you are Nny, and I don't know it…. Don't kill me….. just review. Arg. Enjoy dammit.

In response to reviews: I'm not saying anything about anyone changing, or what the hell either of them are going to do. I'm trying to keep them IC but they might end up slightly OOC or very OOC depending on where my brain takes me on a given day.

Savory Sadism

Ch 3: Stalker

Johnny walked out of the 24/7 with a brain freezy grasped tightly in his hand, he sucked from the straw and twitched for a moment. Yes there was a reason these were called brain freezy's. His eyes remained downcast to the sidewalk as he made his way slowly through the downtown lunch crowds.

'_Too many people.'_

He continued on his way, glancing up occasionally to look into the storefronts that he was passing, but seeing nothing of interest. He allowed himself to zone out as he walked, not having an actual destination set in stone. He was actually enjoying himself outside in the fresh air, and today for some reason he seemed to be invisible to the hoards of morons rushing around town, no one had stared at him, and surprisingly no one had opened their mouth to be rude yet. It shocked him to say the least.

'_Maybe it was just Psycho Doughboy and Mr.Eff that made me so messed up.'_ He sucked on the straw getting another mouthful of the freezing slushy beverage_. 'Nah, that wouldn't explain much. It's not like once they were gone I stopped being crazy. I just became slightly more sane.'_  
Johnny looked around himself upon hearing a small bell jingle and a door click shut, he surveyed his surroundings wondering why he had come in here. He turned to look at the glass front of the store, reading the back words sign from the inside 'Dragon's Books'. His eyes widened, shit he had unintentionally wandered in here while he had zoned out.

Johnny turned to face the counter, half of him praying that she would be the one standing there, the other half begging for it to be anyone but her. A middle aged woman stared back at him with a slight smile on her face. Her septum piercing dangled close over her top lip, making it seem that the piercing was not suited to her small face. He took in her appearance, short middle aged woman, with long hair.  
_'Nothing like Devi at all.'_

"Can I help you?"

Johnny shook his head no and stepped into one of the many isles of books, his eyes scanning the shelf for anything of interest. As he scanned through the science fiction section his mind wandered back to his initial meeting with Devi, they had talked about everything that first day, books, movies, society, and yet he had remained sane enough to talk to her. That had been his first sign that there was something different about her, his initial thoughts of her were not that of how to kill her, but of how to see her again. And he had, he had come back almost every day for the first three months that he knew her, he had even cut back on his slaughtering long enough to get to see her.

Johnny pulled himself out of his reverie, looking up at the shelf he was standing in front of, the first two books his eyes fell upon weren't what he had expected. The Psyche of a Killer and the A-Z serial killer encyclopedia. He shook his head and turned from the books, _'last thing I need to be thinking about, the psyche.'_   
The next thing that caught his attention, he actually reached for to take off the shelf, Hamlet. He clutched the book in his free hand and quickly took a seat in the corner, placing his brain freezy on the floor by his feet, he flipped through the pages of the book. The soliloquies caught his attention, dragging him full force into the content that Shakespeare had created.

'To be, or not to be--that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--

No more--and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--

To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprise of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,

The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.'

Johnny sighed and continued to flip through the pages of the play. He found himself relating his life and thoughts to those of Hamlet; insanity wasn't easy you know. Although there were many ways he could compare himself to Hamlet, his mind wandered back to the beauty he knew as Devi.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Devi stopped in the hallway, glancing at the hanging mirror momentarily. Her makeup had been done perfectly, the onyx liquid eyeliner outlined her flawless emerald eyes in an Egyptian inspired design. This was the first time in about a month that she had dared to venture outside her apartment. Tenna was usually the one to drag her out of the safety of her abode. Yes she had gotten better with her fear and paranoia, but the whole phase was not something she was easily able to leave in the past. A simple black tank top clung to her top half, allowing a little cleavage to be exposed. Her hands traveled down her sides smoothing the short black skirt that hugged her hips and thighs. Glancing down she checked over the torn fishnets and boots she adorned, accentuating the luscious curve of her long slender legs.

Devi proceeded into her living room, gathering her well worn flight jacket from the closet by the door. She slipped out the door with her coat over her shoulder, locking the door behind her.

"Might as well go downtown and do some shopping before Tenna comes over tonight."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'_Devi is the Ophelia to my Hamlet.'_ Johnny thought to himself, Hamlet's words bringing her image into his mind once again, her smile shining through all the hopelessness that lingered in his head.

'_Maybe Mr. Eff was wrong. I mean if someone as crazy as Hamlet's life was worth while, mine has got to be worth something.'_

He snickered quietly and turned his attention back to the book gripped in his slender hands. Johnny scanned through the acts, choosing specific soliloquies to read and reread. His attention was drawn to the door as a small bell rang signaling the entrance of another customer. He peeked over the top of the book as the person stopped to speak with the woman at the register.

"So Sharon, miss me since I've been gone? Or have you been partying without me?"

Johnny's heart caught in his throat, he didn't even need to see the face to recognize the smooth and calming voice behind it. The half of him that preferred not to run into her was winning his internal battle by an overwhelming percent.

'_Shit, I'm not ready to see her; I don't know what to say to her.'_

Johnny lifted the book back up in front of his face, covering it completely with the thin paper layers held together by the binding. He tucked his knees up closer to his chest, resting the book on his knees; he prayed that she didn't come to the back corner of the store that he had taken up temporary residence in. The words of the other woman were completely unheard by his ears, her voice being the only noise that flooded his head, sending his senses into overdrive. His stomach was flipping over itself, he felt like his organs were tangling together into one big mess, and his hands were shaking slightly enough to cause the book in front of his face to waiver.

"Nah, I just wanted to stop by and say hello to you. It's been a while since I've been down here, and I missed you. But listen I've got to run, I need to run to the store before I head home to meet up with Tenna.

"Well I missed you too, but you should stop by more often. Tell Tenna I said hello, have a good night hun."

"Bye Sharon."

"Bye Dev."

As soon as he heard the bell on the door chime, he slammed the book down onto the carpeted floor and bolted out of the bookstore. His brain freezy easily forgotten. He stopped in his tracks, glancing from side to side, his eyes scanned over people desperately searching for her form. He spotted her walking into the grocery store across the street, and chose to stay put and wait for her to come out of the store, following her would be too risky for him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Johnny leaned against the light post across from the Foodmart, his patience slowly wearing thin. How long could one possibly be in a grocery store for? He had somehow gone the entire afternoon seemingly unseen and unbothered. The sun was finally setting, painting the dark blue sky with splatters of neon pinks and oranges. The hissing of the automatic doors of the Foodmart caught Johnny's attention, his eyes darting to scan the doorway in search of Devi.

Devi exited the mart and headed down the sidewalk, walking away from the bustle of downtown. Johnny waited a few moments; pushing his weight off of the light post he followed her trailing about 20 feet behind her on the opposite side of the street. His eyes scanned her body from a distance, her boots thudded against the pavement with each step, her grocery back carefully situated on her hip. He found himself wanting to reach out and touch her, to talk to her, say sorry for what he had done. But he couldn't let her know he was there, not now, not yet.

Johnny kept his pace up with hers, just seeing her from a distance was enough to make him smile. Maybe following her home was a bad idea, but he reassured himself that it wasn't creepy for him to be doing.

'_Just want to know where she lives, not like I'll talk to her or anything.'_

He had remained perfectly stealthy, completely unseen by her for the first mile of the trek back to her apartment. Johnny had zoned in on her, concentrating on the thoughts running through his head, and what he would say to her if she did see him. He hadn't noticed the man that had begun to follow behind her, his hands buried in the pocket of the hooded sweatshirt that hid his face from view. Johnny caught sight of the man closing in on Devi, with her back turned to the man she was left completely vulnerable. His lips pursed together, worry beginning to weight on his chest.

'_Fuck, ….. Shit…'_

Johnny sped up his pace, he crossed his arms over his stomach, his hands now lurking inside of the oversized trench coat he wore, his fingers quickly wrapped around the handles of the two machete like blades. He kept his grasp tightened, torn between blowing his cover and protecting her…. Her…. The one that got away. But she got away from him, she was his, not this creeps. His ears caught the sound of a switchblade opening as the man closed the gap between himself and Devi, finally catching her attention as well.

Devi glanced over her shoulder at the man and looked back toward the sidewalk in front of her.

'_Calm girl, not every guy is out to kill you.'_

Devi glanced over her shoulder again a moment later, hearing a deep chuckle from the man behind her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and sped up her pace. The man lunged toward her, knocking her face first into the pavement, her groceries hitting the ground and spilling out of the bag. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to gain a rational thought, let alone gather actual words.

'_Fuck not again. I can't even fight back.'_

"Take… Just … Take my wallet, you can have it, my card is in there, cash everything, just take it, please don't hurt me. Oh fuck, please don't hurt me."

The stranger chuckled deep in his throat, one hand holding a knife to her throat while the other traveled down the curve of her back and her buttocks; His large frame easily holding her slim form to the cold hard pavement.

"Shit, Shit, please, just let me go, it's all yours, I didn't do anything to you, please."

Tears were gathering in her emerald eyes, slowly beginning to trickle down her pale cheeks before dropping to the ground that her face was pressed to. Her body trembled beneath him, causing him to laugh again.

"Sorry little missy, I don't want your wallet. I have bigger plans for you, you're coming home with me, you want to get out of this, don't, fucking, scream."

He pressed the knife harder against the flesh of her neck, the cold metal bringing a newfound panic to her mind. She could feel the bile rising in her throat as she fought to suppress the sobs of terror that threatened to spill forth.

Johnny saw red, his hands tightening further around the handles of the blades inside his coat. This was not going to happen, not to his Devi. He ran across the street, his boots pounding against the asphalt, the sound causing her attacker to look up from his victim.

"Don't fucking touch her." Venom dripped from every word out of his mouth. The stranger stood from Devi's back, turning to face Johnny he grinned.

"Aw little boy, being a superhero?" The man took a few steps toward Johnny, pointing his knife in his direction. The man's hood fell from his head, allowing his face to be seen in the dim illumination from the street light above.

Devi rolled over and scooted backward, her back pressing to the dilapidated building behind her. She dug her hand into her jacket, pulling out on of the small canisters of mace and gripping it tightly in her hand. She shook as she pulled her knees closer to her chest, watching the scene unfolding before her.

'_Not him too, this can't get any worse. I'm a fucking psycho magnet.'_

Johnny's final strides brought him within feet of Devi's attacker, he pulled his hands from inside his trench coat, the blades clinking against each other as his arms uncrossed from each other. The stranger laughed again.

"You wanna play?"

The stranger swung at Johnny with the small switchblade in his hand, catching him across the stomach, blood seeping to the surface of the fresh wound. He swung out at Nny again, this time missing him as he jumped away from the blade. Johnny crossed his arms in front of him, clutching the blades tightly, a malicious grin crawled across his face, he swung at the man, his arms uncrossing with the swing he took. Each blade sunk into the skin on the man's torso, slashing a clean X into his flesh, earning a pained scream. The man placed his hand to his chest, his face screwing up in anger.

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Johnny glanced over at Devi, catching the look of fear dancing in her eyes; he looked back to the stranger in time to see him slamming the small blade into his stomach. Nny hissed in pain, he swung the blade up into the man's stomach, pulling upward he could hear the flesh tearing as he lifted the man off his feet. The man gasped, blood dripping from his lips. Johnny pulled the blade back allowing the man's body to hit the asphalt with a heavy thud, blood pouring from the large fresh wound. He slipped the blades back into his trench coat before moving to approach Devi.

"Uh…. Hi…. Damn… I didn't want you to see that. But I…. I couldn't let him hurt you." Johnny wrung his hands together, ignoring the fact that he had indeed gotten blood on his gloves. He pulled the gloves off and tucked them into the pocket of his coat.

"I… I… Um. I ….. Thank you." Devi hoisted herself to her feet, leaving her canister of mace laying on the ground by her feet. Leaning against the wall behind her, she attempted to steady her shaking legs. Her eyes followed Johnny as he began to drag the body of her attacker out of the street and into the small alley besides the broken down building. He dusted his hands off and began to walk away, leaving Devi in shock.

"I'm not going to try to explain why I was following you, I just needed to see you and say sorry. I wasn't ready to actually talk to you yet, I don't really know what to say. But I'll leave you alone now."

"…Nny…." The soft tone of her voice pulled his attention back to her, he turned back to her before feeling his head spin from the loss of blood. He lost his balance, stumbling slightly he struggled to regain his balance. Failing miserably he could see the ground quickly approaching as his body fell dead weight. Devi managed to sprint forward, catching his body before it hit the ground. She dragged him toward the sidewalk, setting him down and resting his head in her lap. Her fingers softly brushed strands of hair from his face.

"You're hurt, all because of me."

"Nothing big, I'll live, hell you've done worse to me in the past, and I've certainly done worse to myself." He grinned up at her, not quite sure of which image of her to concentrate on.

"Hell I'm not going to ask why you were following me. But, why did you help me?" Devi pulled her jacket off, covering his chest and stomach with the large flight jacket she was so attached to.

" I don't know…. Hear me out…. I hate being touched, I hate feeling, I hate people, Hell I hate just about everything. I can't figure it out. You're different, I don't hate being around you, I don't hate you touching me, I hate caring about you because I fucked up. I didn't want to kill you, it….it…..was….. doughboys.…. Oh shit…." Johnny smiled up at her, his eyes slipping shut. He hoped this was it, this was death, he would be able to die happy. Darkness closed around him, surrendering him to unconsciousness. His head lolled to the side in her lap.

Devi tapped his cheek with her palm, great she was in a bad neighborhood, stuck between downtown and home with a man who had attempted to kill her previously. Yet somehow something felt right, she hadn't been terrified watching that man get ripped apart by Johnny, she had only been terrified of the attack itself. Reality sunk in, she was stuck here, Johnny in her lap, and no way to get him anywhere with her. Devi reached into the pocket of her jacket as it lay draped over his unconscious form, fishing for her cell phone. Her slender fingers wrapped around the sleek plastic device, flipping it open she frantically fought with the power button.

"Fuck it had to be stuck tonight."

The phone finally turned on as she shakily dialed a number, holding the phone to her ear she could hear it ringing through to the line. _'pick up, pick up, pick up.' _She took a deep breath as she heard a cheery voice answer the phone.

"Hey Dev, Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting at your apartment for the past twenty minutes."

"Um, Tenna we have a problem. I need you to get your car and come pick me up by 1666 Hades Avenue. I'm on the side of the road, not actually at an address.. I'll explain when you get here."

It was going to be one long night.


	4. Domination

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor.

A/N: Sorry it has taken so long for me to get this chapter out. With the recent health problems I'm finding that stress seems to kill my ability to write and be creative on occasion. Had my surgery yesterday and I intend on updating this again while I'm recovering, and I'm also going to be putting out an Invader Zim fanfiction soon. So ENJOY AND REVIEW for goddess sake REVIEW!!!

Savory Sadism

Ch 4: Domination

Devi sat silently on her couch, while Tenna sat on the other end unusually quiet for a change. She flipped through her sketch book, looking at the drawings she had done over the past year. She wanted to kick herself, she was finally noticing now how much of her artwork had begun to revolve around him after his little 'Kill you' stunt.

"Spooky and I think you have some explaining to do." Tenna squeaked Spooky a few times, the high pitched noise grating on Devi's nerves. She clenched her jaw shut and exhaled exasperatedly, she stood from her spot on the couch flashing Tenna the one minute sign before walking down the hall toward her bedroom.

Devi pushed the door open quietly and stepped inside, her eyes scanning over Johnny's sleeping form as he rested in her bed. The dim light from her bedside lamp cast over his body as he lay vulnerable on his back. Devi approached the bed and gently pulled back the blanket. She had removed his shirt and cleaned and bandaged his wounds as soon as they had gotten into the apartment. Her eyes trailed over his pale bare chest, falling and rising with each breath he took. By the looks of the bandages he had indeed stopped bleeding, his wounds already clotting.

'_You have him in your bed. Like touching him, having his skin against yours would be anything terrible?'_

Devi shook her head, trying to rid herself of Sickness's plaguing voice. She pulled the blanket back over his body, making sure he was completely covered before she turned to leave the room. The door clicked shut quietly behind her; making her way back into the living room she took a seat on the couch at the opposite end from Tenna. Devi closed her eyes and sighed, this was going to be mighty interesting to explain.

"He's asleep. But ok. Yes I have some explaining to do. But first do you remember Johnny C. and the whole encounter last year?"

Tenna nodded and squeaked Spooky causing Devi to visibly twitch. "Yes, I remember that sicko, he tried to kill you, and you've been damn paranoid since then. Why was he the one who attacked you tonight?"

Devi held her hand up attempting to silence Tenna so that she could explain everything, as thoroughly as she could. "Well, ok. I decided to go to the store to get food for us tonight, so that we wouldn't have to eat out or order out. I figured it would be cheaper. All day I had this feeling I was being watched, I ignored it until I left the store. I started to walk home, and I really began to feel like I was being watched. I got half way back here before I realized I was being followed. This man jumped me, I think he intended on raping me… But the guy in my room saw and he fought off the guy who attacked me, and killed him. He got hurt protecting me and I couldn't just leave him out there alone."

Devi sighed and took a few deep breaths, her hands clenching together, Tenna was going to flip. "Johnny wasn't the one who attacked me. He's the one in my room right now. He's the man that saved me." Her face scrunched up as she waited for Tenna to loose her cool, half expecting her to kill Johnny.

"So he saved you from this other guy?" Tenna raised an eyebrow, her curiosity bubbling over.

"He had been following me, I don't know if I should be creeped out by the fact that he was following me, or happy that he saved me." Devi picked her sketch book up off the coffee table and tossed it into Tenna's lap. "Just look through that, it's some of my work that I've done since last year."

Tenna dropped Spooky onto the couch and opened the sketch book. She began to flip through the pages, stopping to look at the details of each picture, taking note of the people illustrated in the sketches.

"So he tried to kill you, and you've still liked him all this time, I'd say more than like." Tenna giggled and grinned over at Devi. "Sick but cute."

"He apologized to me for what he tried last year, the whole 'Kill me' stunt, he said wasn't his fault, he said something about doughboys. I'm thinking that they are something like Sickness, but I overcame her. I want to believe him Tenna." Devi dropped her head into her hands, her head still spinning in shock from the night's events.

"I was terrified of him before, but now that he's here I'm not scared of him. I mean I kicked his ass once; I could do it again if warranted. What I don't get is… he saved me, said he didn't hate being around me, and that he fucked up. I agree with that though." Her frustration was building up inside her; she was stuck into a situation she really didn't know how to deal with. She was perfectly content believing that she was afraid of him, but now she was being forced to confront what Sickness had already pointed out; it wasn't fear it was complete denial.

'_Do you finally see?'_

'_Shut up sickness, how many times have I told you. Just shut up.'_

Tenna giggled and picked up the television remote and spooky, she clicked the TV on surfed the channels for a moment, finally stopping on a cheesy vampire flick. She turned to face Devi before settling Spooky on her lap.

"Well Dev, if you didn't notice you tend to pick up all the rejects and wounded puppies. Honestly I would stay away from him, but that's me. On the other hand, with the way you have been living for the past year, facing your fears which happen to be him, and maybe giving him a second chance to be your friend…. Might benefit you."

Devi ran her hands through her shoulder length purple hair, letting her head drop she sighed. "Somehow this wasn't how I thought my life would turn out."

Tenna shrugged and handed Devi her sketchbook, turning her attention to the exceedingly violent vampire action flick on the TV. Devi opened the sketchbook and snatched a pencil off the table, maybe she would be able to get some work done while they watched the movie.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Devi laughed and picked at the Chinese food in the container in her hands, slurping down another Lo Mein noodle. She glanced to her side before chucking another fortune cookie at Tenna, a moment later she ducked down as a fried dumpling flew toward her head. Laughter filled the room as food flew back and forth between the two women. Both fell back on the floor, having previously bailed from their positions on the couch. Devi looked around her living room noticing that she and Tenna were the only two things in the room that hadn't gotten dirty somehow. Her eyes scanned the room over again, this time coming to rest on the doorway to the hall. Her gaze traveled up from the bare feet, over the thin legs covered by black pants, up to the pale bare chest, her eyes locked onto his immediately sensing his discomfort.

"Uhh…Hi….Johnny this is Tenna…. How are you feeling?" Devi stood from her spot on the floor, and approached Johnny she noticed how his shoulders slouched as his frame leaned against the wooden doorway. Blood soaked through the gauze around the wounds on his torso.

"I heard screaming, and thought someone was being killed." A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Devi took his comment as humor and not the amusement that he initially intended. She wrapped her arm around his chest, supporting his weight against her own slender body, and escorted him over to the couch. Brushing off the remnants of fortune cookie, she eased him down to the cushions, allowing him to prop himself up against the back of the couch. Devi sat down as well, allowing her butt to sink into the soft cushions. Her eyes roamed over his pale skinny body, she took note of all the scars adorning his chest and arms. One large scar running diagonally across his chest caught her attention; absentmindedly she reached up, allowing her fingers to trace the scar down his chest.

Johnny sucked in a deep breath, fighting the urge to let his eyes roll back at the feel of her touch. He quickly reached up gripping her wrist tightly and his eyes locked on hers, his eyes lingered there. He found himself stuck within her gaze; closing his eyes he released her wrist from his grasp.

"Sorry, not used to being touched by people. I actually hate it a lot." He didn't catch the look of hurt that crossed Devi's face momentarily.

Tenna stood from her spot on the floor and cleared her throat.

"Dev, I'm going to run downstairs to my apartment, I'll be back in like a half hour, if that's alright with you." Devi nodded and smiled before brushing a stray strand of violet and black hair away from her eyes.

"That's just fine, I'm going to clean his wounds and get comfortable for the night." No sooner had the words left Devi's mouth, Tenna was out the door. Hearing it click shut behind her Devi let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Sorry for touching you and all, I didn't mean to be a bother, just your scar had my attention." Devi attempted to hide the pain behind her voice, she had questioned why his comment had hurt her but had quickly dismissed the whole thought.

"No, it's …. It's not you. You touching me isn't the problem….. Your friend being here….." His sentence was never finished, Devi just nodded in understanding.

"Sit forward, I'm going to clean your wounds again." Johnny sat up straight, his back away from the cushions that padded the large black couch. His eyes followed Devi as she slid off the couch and onto the floor. She moved to sit in front of him, kneeling between his legs, her fingers began to gently unwrap the bloodied gauze.

Johnny flinched slightly as she pulled the last of the gauze away from the clotted stab wound; the blood around the wound had dried on his skin, staining it a dark red color. Devi stood and motioned for Johnny to wait for her right where he was.

Devi returned promptly with a cloth to clean the wound and rubbing alcohol, she resumed her position between his legs on the floor. She wrapped the alcohol soaked cloth around her fingers and gently wiped the dried blood from his flesh, after cleaning the area she held the cloth below the stab wound on his abdomen and poured the alcohol down over the wound. The coppery smell of blood and alcohol filled her nose, causing her to cough slightly. Devi wiped away the access alcohol and blood from the wound. Dropping the cloth to the floor, her eyes trailed up his body.

'_You've got him weak and helpless in your apartment, you can make him the victim.'_

'_Shut up sickness…..now.'_

Devi's eyes stopped at his, she found herself lost in him, confused, yet in control. _'He's the victim now.'_ Her hands fell upon his thighs, without a second thought she allowed them to wander. Her hands reached the top of his pants, allowing her flesh to be flush against his. Moving them up further, carefully avoiding his wounds, her hands found his collarbone. Devi traced her fingertips along her collarbone before wrapping her hands around his throat. She watched as his eyes remained calm and emotionless, even as her grip tightened around his throat. She stood from her spot, keeping her hands glued to his flesh.

Devi straddled his lap and allowed him to lean back against the cushions, his eyes glazed over with a foreign look, throwing her off her guard momentarily. She felt his hands grip her hips, his fingers digging into her skin, her close contact setting something off inside of him. Leaning forward, her hands tightened again, she could feel him swallowing beneath her grasp and eased up her grip slightly. Her lips lingered an inch away from his, and her breath played on his lips.

"Don't you ever pull that shit with me again, got it?" Johnny nodded his head knowing exactly what she meant. He took a breath trying to get air through to his lungs, yet somehow her grasp on him had him loosing his mind. Having her this close was driving him up a wall, he wasn't repulsed for the first time ever, the feel of her flesh against his was exhilarating. His tongue darted out to lick his dry lips.

'_Nny, you messed up before. You love her, I know it, you know it. You have her right here. Do something about it.'_ Johnny shooed Nail Bunny's voice from his head, hoping it wouldn't pull him from the moment.

Devi's emerald eyes shone with uncertainty as well as dominance. Her hands left his throat, one placed itself on his chest, her nails raking over his skin leaving red marks on pale flesh. Her other hand made its way up the back of his neck, burying itself into his dark hair she yanked his head back violently.

'_Do it!' _Nailbunny urged him on.

'_Do it!' _Sickness screamed in her head.

"Immortalize this." Devi pressed her lips forcefully over his, pulling him further into the kiss with the hand that was entangled in his hair. The kiss was a dominant and controlling close lipped kiss, yet it remained chaste. Devi pulled away gasping at the sensation of his nails breaking through the flesh between her pants and her shirt leaving small crescent shaped wounds behind. She arched her back, her body that much closer to his, her stomach pressed against his, rubbing against the fresh wound. Johnny whimpered and closed his eyes, a smirk forming on his face.

Devi squeaked and jumped back and off his lap, realizing that she had inflicted pain but not taking into consideration who the person before her was. She took a seat beside him, her eyes fixating on a small dirt spot on the floor.

"You know, I just lost a bet to myself. I bet that I would never get the chance to touch you ever, let alone speak with you." Johnny chuckled and let his head fall back against the soft cushion behind him.

"Oh…." She couldn't gather her words for a moment as she struggled with the question she was pondering. "You never answered before… Why did you save me?"

"I..uh….I….. This is going to sound weird but Reverend Meat…. He's kinda like the doughboys but not quite as crazy. He told me to go out tonight, I wanted to see you, say sorry in person I guess. Maybe I just wanted to know you were ok. I couldn't let him hurt you, I'm not worth much, but you are. I saved you because I like you."

Devi nodded and chewed on her lip, thoughts running rampant through her head. "Can you do me a favor?" Upon his nod of approval she chose to continue. "Can you not try to kill me again, if you do this time….. I'll kill you…" She wanted to clamp her hand over her mouth, she had no idea where that had come from, or what had made her say it, but it shocked the daylights out of her. She continued again.

"And I'm sorry for that kiss….. I know you don't like to be touched, but since that night I needed to know what it felt like to do that."

Johnny's eyes widened, after the dreams he had been having, that kiss was most innocent thing on his mind at the moment. For the first time in his life he wasn't concerned with being disgusted with bodily fluids, or human filth in general, he was concerned about the woman he had saved.

Devi's fingers fiddled with the edge of her shirt, her mind racing, yelling at her for her previous actions. Her hearing tuned into the movie playing on the screen; seeking out anything to occupy her attention even for a few minutes. She found herself failing miserably. Her eyes trailed over to Johnny, examining the large scar on his chest. Her lips moved to speak, but she couldn't find the words she searched for. Pulling her thoughts together she finally managed to compile her question in a comprehensible manner.

"That scar on your chest…How did you get it? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.." Devi's voice became quieter as she finished speaking. She couldn't remove her gaze from him. Even in the dim light of her living room, his pale skin glowed as his boney form rested against the cushions of her couch. Her previous moment of bravery and dominance had since left her. And his momentary silence gave her time to subdue her rapidly beating heart.

"You really want to know?"

"Well yea, I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know."

"You'll probably go back to hating me after this"

"I will not, it has nothing to do with you killing me, so I won't get mad." Devi quickly retorted, finding herself offended by his immediate assumption.

"It happened about three years ago when I first moved into my house. As far as I can remember he was my first …… victim that is. He managed to get away from me. He tried to kill me so he could escape, somehow he got a hold of one of my machete's and took a nice swing at me. Cut me pretty deep, I actually figured I would end up bleeding out on my floor. To cut a long story short, he ended up decapitated, and it took quite a while to heal." Johnny wiped his hands off on his pants, his palms were sweating and the secretions were beginning to irritate him highly. He was pretty sure it was from being around Devi, he had never gotten that way before, not even when it came to his first kill.

Devi blinked a few times, processing what she had just been told. She could feel an inkling of fear rising in her stomach, along with something else that she just couldn't put her finger on.

"So how many people have you killed?" She wanted to smack herself for opening her mouth. In all honesty she didn't really NEED to know, but found that her curiosity got the better of her. She wasn't expecting an answer to the nosey intrusive question, although she did hope for one.

"I lost count. If you want exact, I can't really tell you, but estimate…...Well over a few hundred…. Possibly a thousand, maybe more. Not sure, don't quote me on that though." Johnny licked his lips and closed his eyes, a slight smile playing on his thin lips.

Devi bit her bottom lip, her teeth digging into the soft flesh. She couldn't believe he had just come out and said that to her, no remorse, no regret… no fear. Her heart pounded in her chest beneath her the thin fabric of her black tank top. She awaited the fear to rise in her body, to take control of her and make her run from him. But she found herself completely stationary, glued to the couch beside him, not even flinching at the words that had come out of his mouth. Devi moved her hand slowly, finding his resting against the fabric surface of the couch, she rested her hand on top of his, allowing her fingers to curl around his slender hand. Johnny didn't pull away, instead he tightened his grip on her hand sending a jolt through her body.

A slight tingling feeling rose in her stomach, as a smile slowly made its way across her face. She could feel a warmth developing in her abdomen and between her legs as well. Realization finally hit her, she wasn't afraid of what he did, she was attracted, infatuated…. Enthralled…. Excited.

The only thing she could ask herself was why she hadn't seen this sooner.

'_You're taking back control of your life. You won't fear him anymore.'_


	5. Serenity

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor.

A/N: Ok it has taken me over a month and I apoligize for that. But I have two chapters all set so I figured I would finish both and post them both at once. School has started so my writing time is minimized due to homework and work, but I will still be getting chapters out, and they will be more than once a month.

oh... IF YOU ALERT OR FAVORITE THIS STORY... REVIEW FOR GODDESS SAKE or I wont continue posting this on !!!!!! Capiche...? Enjoy

Savory Sadism

Ch 5: Serenity

The shadows danced across the white ceiling of the bedroom as a car passed the apartment. Johnny sighed and wrung the edge of the sheet tightly within his slender hands. He could hear Devi's shallow breathing and took comfort in that, despite the fact that he would not allow himself to sleep. His head lolled to the side on the pillow. He looked over Devi's peacefully slumbering form, curled up on her side, her hand rested close to his side of the bed. Oddly enough he didn't feel that his space was being invaded.

Johnny let a smile slip onto his face as he watched a small grin form on hers in her sleep.

_She didn't run from you Johnny, She wasn't scared. That was a first_

His eyes left her body and scanned down his chest to his stomach, he could see the blood seeping through the gauze again. He had felt the wound reopen when he had carried her into her room a few hours previous. Yes Tenna had returned, and surprisingly had trusted to leave him with Devi overnight. He hadn't even trusted himself with her, but as he sat with her, he began to realize that with the doughboys gone, he was a lot less likely to fuck things up between them.

Killing her was no longer an option.

He sat up and reached behind himself, finding the edge of the gauze tucked in, he pulled it out and began to unravel it from around his slender torso. Placing the bloody gauze on the nightstand, he stood from the bed and walked over to the window. He wasn't used to looking outside and observing the world like this, his neighborhood was quieter and further removed from the city than hers. He could feel the blood trickle from the irritated stab wound. Running his fingers over the wound he could feel the sticky fluid coating his fingers and cringed immediately angry that he had removed the bandaging.

Johnny pulled his hand away from the wound, his eyes fixating on the white wall in front of him, he lifted his hand and placed his fingers against the cool smooth surface. His fingers trailed along until they were dry. Bringing his hand back to the wound, he coated his fingertips in blood once again. He started off where he had last finished. His lips tightened in a line as he looked at the wall again. A heart traced in blood adorned the wall before him.

He made his way to the door of her room, opening it quietly being mindful of Devi's state of slumber. Entering the bathroom next to her room he turned the sink on and began to scrub his hands profusely removing all traces of his blood from his skin. Johnny began to wish that Devi was awake to take care of him like she had done before, he just didn't seem to have it in him to wake her. He turned the sink off and went back into the bedroom, silently shutting the door behind him.

Johnny picked up the package of gauze and opened it, cringing at the sound of the paper wrapper tearing. He carefully wrapped the crisp clean gauze around his torso, securing it to protect the wound. Climbing back into the bed, he pulled the blanket over himself and rested back against the pillow. The silence was beginning to give him a headache, Meat and Nailbunny were silent, Devi was sleeping, and he really had no form of entertainment for the time being. He sighed and closed his eyes with the intent of just thinking.

'I'm just resting, I won't fall asleep, I have to keep an eye on Devi.'

Five minutes later he dozed off into a deep and peaceful sleep, dreams of Devi plaguing him once again. This time it didn't matter, he was here with her, she was within his reach, tonight wouldn't be torment.

Johnny awoke a few hours later with a startle, he bolted upright in the bed, his hands clutching at his chest. His heart beat rapidly within his ribs and his breathing was staggered. He looked over on the bed next to him. _'Where am I? This isn't my house. Why the fuck was I sleeping?' _

Memories of the past twenty-four hours flooded his head and his initial confusion wore off, he remembered carrying Devi to bed and watching her sleep for the first hour or so. The spot where he had placed her was empty, only an indent from her body remaining. _'Did I hurt her, shit. I don't remember killing her, no, I couldn't have, I wouldn't.'_

His eyes scanned around the room barely catching the one detail he had been missing. Devi sat on the wide windowsill of her bedroom window, her legs extended as far as they could in the small space, her knees bent with her hands resting on top of them. The dark red curtains that clashed against the white walls silhouetted her thin figure. He climbed out of the bed and walked toward the window, his bare feet padding against her plush carpet disguising his footsteps from her ears. As he stood before the window, he pulled the curtain back out of his way. Her dark violet hair was down, brushing past her shoulders, her makeup long since worn off, yet he still found her to be beautiful. She turned her view from outside to him, a smile gracing her pale pink lips.

"Morning, I didn't want to wake you. I woke up to watch the sunrise, I haven't done that in a long time. I used to be too afraid to sleep because of you, I would generally pass out around this time." Devi chuckled slightly and reached out for his hand. She stopped herself quickly and glanced up at him.

"Do you mind?"

He raised an eyebrow curiously at her question and followed her eyes back down to her extended hand. He shook his head no and smirked, allowing her to intertwine her fingers with his. Devi scooted over and swung her legs out the open window, leaving Johnny room to sit with her. He sat down next to her and swung his legs out the window, the cool morning air sending a chill up his spine. His grip on her hand tightened as their hands fell into his lap. She inched closer to him, resting her head on his boney shoulder as the sun began to peek over the tops of the building of the city.

"Sunset is so much better." She sighed and let her mind wander to the previous night, a few questions still dancing within her head.

"Yea, It's been a while since I've seen either, I don't really leave my house much. I do go out to watch the stars from my roof a lot." His free hand uneasily moved to run through her hair for a moment, his fingers entangling with her hair before pulling away.

"Nny... You said something last night, something about the doughboys. Who are the doughboys?" Her voice trailed off with the end of the question, hoping that she wasn't prying too deeply for his liking. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but her curiosity was getting the better of her logic.

"Well, they were these styrofoam figures that resided in my house. Turns out they were just voices in my head. There's nailbunny and Reverend Meat too but they aren't evil really. I kinda don't know how to explain them though." Johnny sighed and blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the now pale glow the sun cast across the sky.

"Voices in your head? I think you were what set off sickness. She started off as being a painting I did... Then she actually materialized and spoke. Murder, mayhem blah blah, that's all she was interested in... I thought she was gone until recently, then you came back into the picture." Devi lifted her head from his shoulder and looked over at him, using her hands to emphasize her explanation of the little disease she knew as Sickness.

"Sorry, well do you want me to leave again?" He smirked at her after picking up on the playful tone of her voice.

"No, you are staying right here, but I'm not done picking your brain yet." She punched his arm lightly and turned her body to face him, her hand let go of his in the process, she bent her leg and squished it between them leaving the other remaining hanging out the window.

"So why exactly did you try to kill me?"

"The doughboys said that I was happy, but it wouldn't last, and to make the whole thing simple, they told me I needed to immortalize the moment, I was going to kill you then myself. But now that I look at it, I've been to heaven and hell and I wasn't thrilled with either, but thats a whole nother thing." He rested his head against the frame of the window, his lips pursed together tightly, he really didn't like talking about that day, but she was right in wanting to know, and if they were to be in contact with each other it would need to be discussed.

"Part of me thinks I should be scared, but I'm kind of flattered. It was all because you didn't want me to leave and loose me?"

"Essentially... yea"

" I was petrified after you tried that though, I locked myself up in this place and avoided everyone. I was scared you were coming to finish what you started. But after a few months I found I couldn't get you off my mind, your face popped up in a lot of my artwork. I thought I wanted to forget you, but Sickness was right, I didn't want to, I wanted to see you again." Devi smiled at him, a full blown teeth and all smile accompanied by a small giggle.

"Same here, I couldn't get you out of my head, even after I promised to give you my nothing... I couldn't forget you. There's more to it but I don't want to frighten you off or anything. I just needed to see you, make sure you were alright." Johnny's eyes remained locked on hers, after hearing her giggle he just couldn't look away. She was perfect, beautiful, caring, intelligent, he was convinced there was no way she could be human.

"Like you could really frighten me off? Puh-leaaase." She flicked her hand at him dismissing his previous comment.

"Well I managed to once before, and I'm still sorry about that, I really am." He scratched his head and looked down into his lap not wanting his eyes to betray the hurt he was still harboring within him.

"Remember what I said last night, about not pulling that shit again. If your sorry, just promise me, promise you won't do that again." Devi reached for his hand again, grasping his between both of her hands she squeezed his lightly causing him to look up at her again. Her eyes were wide, their emerald coloring bright in the morning light. Johnny blushed at the mention of the previous night, her lips against his had driven his mind crazy, bringing his dreams to the surface.

"I promise." He blinked innocently and grasped her hand that rested beneath his. Devi smiled and let go of his hand, moving her other leg she slid off the edge of the windowsill back into her bedroom. Johnny followed suit, allowing Devi to shut the window.

Devi flopped back down onto her bed, her tiny nightshirt riding up to expose her stomach. Johnny stood by the side of her bed awkwardly, letting his eyes roam about the room, he didn't see her sit up. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him down to her bed, his hands flew to his sides reaching for his knives in an instant reaction. Devi smirked as he hit the bed face down along side of her.

"What don't know how to react without your weapons tough guy?"

Johnny smiled sheepishly, one corner of his mouth tugging upward slightly. He had never had this much physical contact in his life as far as he could remember. But her touch didn't unnerve him, it didn't set off his anger, and didn't find himself disgusted by their close contact. Her hand traveled across his bare chest and down his side, stopping at his covered wound, she pulled her hand away quickly, she had almost forgotten that he had been hurt the previous night.

Johnny's skin burned at the touch of her flesh against his, a tingling feeling rising in his stomach. Images from his dreams flooded his mind, his eyes shutting momentarily. He felt her hand leave his body and rolled onto his side to face her. He was so unsure of everything, as far as he knew he had never kissed a woman before the night before and he had most certainly never done anything else with a woman. He boosted himself over her, now straddling her hips, his hand trailed down her side gently coming to rest on her hip. Devi smirked up at him, a mischievous look dancing in her eyes. Johnny took an uneasy breath before his lips met hers, she tangled her fingers into his dark hair holding him against her. She licked his bottom lip urging him to deepen the kiss. Their kiss became heated, as their tongues moved against each other. Her hands roamed over his body, grasping at his back, her nails dragging across his flesh.

They pulled away from each other, both gasping for breath, their bodies burning for more of the others touch. Devi inched up and sat up with Johnny still straddling her, he sat back against her thighs, his eyes glazed over with lust. She grinned and leaned closer to him, nipping and biting the skin on his shoulder, she nipped at the flesh along his collarbone as her fingers traced his pant line, tugging gently at the material between them. His head lolled to the side as she continued biting leaving a small line of bruises along his collar, his hands grasped her waist before traveling up between them, one hand cupping her breast while the other moved along her neck and behind her head. He fisted his hand in her hair and yanked her head back, taking a cue from her previous actions. Johnny pushed her back down against the bed kissing her neck, his other hand moved beneath her shirt her bare breast now flush against his palm. Devi gasped at his sudden forwardness and arched toward his touch, allowing a moan to escape her parted lips.

Devi's hips arched toward his, desiring more of his touch, however inexperienced it was, his touch made something within her snap. Her arms extended over her head allowing him to slip her shirt off, tossing it to the side. Johnny took in her state of undress and breathed in an uneasy breath, running purely on instinct. His hands moved to kneed her breasts, as he leaned in to kiss her again, pressing his lips to hers forcefully she returned the kiss, nips and bites being exchanged between kisses. His kisses left her lips and trailed downward eliciting a slight whimper from her swollen lips. Her eyes shot open as he bit the top of her breast above her nipple, his teeth leaving a deep imprint on her flesh. A moan escaped her lips as his clamped over her hardened nipple, his tongue flicking and playing across the sensitive flesh, his other hand still massaging her other breast. Devi dug her hands into his dark hair, her fingers gripping tightly and tugging causing a chill of excitement to travel down his body.

As they continued to explore and tease each other, neither heard the apartment door open. The bedroom door slammed open suddenly causing both Nny and Devi to jump. Devi's hands flew to cover her chest as Nny sat straddled over her hips. Their compromising situation had been revealed to the intruder.

"Devi I was... OH GOD! I'M SORRY!" Tenna slammed the door shut and retreated to the living room.

Devi and Johnny looked each other over, a blush playing across both of their faces. Johnny sat on the bed beside her, his head hanging over his lap as he rested his elbows on his knees. Devi sat up and giggled lightly, her hands still covering her exposed breasts.

"I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment trying to calm the reaction his anatomy was having to her touch.

"For what? I kind of started that last night. I'm glad you did that." Devi sat up beside him, biting her bottom lip nervously. " I'm going to strangle her later." As soon as the words passed her lips, she took into account her current company and decided it was best to retract her previous statement.

"Well metaphorically speaking.. not actually." Devi stood from the bed and approached her dresser. Digging through the drawers she found herself a low cut black t-shirt and a bra. Tossing her top on, she tugged a pair of tight black pants up her slender legs, the fabric hugging her well shaped thighs and butt. Devi turned back to Nny with a smirk on her face and held up her finger to him.

"One minute let me see what she wants, Get dressed though. Be right back." She bounded out into the living room, leaving Johnny sitting on her bed a dumbfounded look playing on his features. Where had all that come from, he would never do that with another human, he hadn't really known what he was doing, he had let his mind relinquish control to his body. Glancing around he saw his t-shirt folded neatly on the top of her dresser. He retrieved his clothing and quickly dressed, grabbing his boots from next to the dresser he slipped them on and buckled them up his calves.

"Devi, what the hell did I just walk in on?!?!" Tenna waved her hands above her head, squeaking Spooky to emphasize her confusion.

"You know every guy I've dated has been a dud, can you let me have my fun for once jeez Ten, what are you my mom?" A smug smirk settled on her lips, giving Tenna a tell all look that need not be explained. Devi leaned against the living room wall, resting her bare foot against the cool smooth surface.

"No, I'm not your mom, but I was coming to ask if you wanted to go to the mall today, and drag Nny along if you wanted too. That's up to you." Tenna sat on the edge of the coffee table observing the living room that had been a wreck the previous night. She had returned to find Johnny with a sleeping Devi passed out in his arms, awkwardly embracing her. She chose to leave him with her, in his injured state she really hadn't seen any harm in it, she had cleaned up the mess in the living room and left the two of them alone for the remainder of the night.

"Well I definitely want to go, but I don't know if he will be game, I'll ask him though." Devi pushed away from the wall and turned on heel for her bedroom, her feet padded quietly against the carpet as she made it to her room. She rested her hand on the door frame, her eyes looking up and down Johnny's skinny frame.

"Nny..." Her soft voice reached his ears, yet still caused him to jump, a chill crawling up his spine at the sound. He turned his head slowly, taking in her form for the millionth time in the past 24 hours. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she had changed since last year, physically and mentally.

When he didn't respond, she chose to continue.

"Tenna wants to go to the mall, and I'm going to go with her, but I want you to come along." She ran her free hand through her hair, a small innocent smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, hoping she was convincing enough to get him to agree.

"But there's people at the mall, all those assholes gather there don't they?" His right eye twitched slightly at the idea of being surrounded by the human filth that he attempted to avoid on a daily basis.

"Just ignore them, please?..." An idea struck her. Her eyes widened slightly, and the look on her face became meek, a hint of fear in her features. " After last night, I really don't want to go, I mean unless I know there's someone who will protect me, I guess ... you make me feel safe."

She had never thought those words would come out of her mouth after the incident the previous year, but here she was bribing her attempted murderer to join her in a shopping expedition.

Very few times in his life had he ever felt the need to protect someone, and for some reason, a something in him cracked slightly. Maybe it had been the look on her face that had changed his mind, or maybe it had been that for the first time for as long as he could remember he enjoyed someones company. But for whatever the reason, he changed his mind. He sighed in defeat and approached her, looking at the top of her downcast head he admitted defeat.

"Fine, I'll go, but I make no promises." Johnny crossed his arms across his chest in his last attempt at defiance.

"Did I ask for any promises?" Her eyebrow raised at his remark.

"Well no..."

"Shutup and lets go" Devi punched him lightly in the arm and watched his fists clench in response to her attack. He had gotten much better since the first time she had met him.

Devi quickly slipped her feet into her combat boots and tied the laces tightly, she grabbed Johnny's trench coat from the back of her door and tossed it at him, watching it hit him in the face. She giggled and snatched her trenchcoat, heading out of the bedroom, Nny trailing closely behind her.

"Can I get my knives at least?" He raised his hand slightly, his eyes widening inquisitively.

Devi hissed lightly between her teeth and smiled. "Ok one stipulation I didn't mention... Let me carry them today."

Johnny's eyebrow rose at her request, he opened his mouth to protest at the prospect of being unarmed, but quickly shut his mouth, remembering the knife he had hidden inside his boot still.

"Fine."

She slipped into her trenchcoat his knives clanking together and catching his attention, she smiled and blew him a kiss, before snatching her keys from the coffee table, following Tenna to the door, the three began their adventure for the day.

Tenna had driven them to the mall, her jeep grand Cherokee proving to be a more than effective mode of transportation. Johnny was amazed at just how old his car had gotten in comparison to what people were now driving, not that he cared. Devi ran through the parking garage jumping off the bumpers of the parked cars setting off a few alarms in the process. The sounds grated on his nerves, but her antics were more than enough to offset the annoyance. He watched her trench coat flowing around her as she frolicked her way through the concrete structure, he caught sight of his knives sheathed neatly and secured into the inside straps of her coat.

It brought a smile to his face, knowing that she was carrying his belongings, it gave him a sense of attachment. Had it been anyone else, it may have frightened him but it was Devi, being attached to her wasn't seeming like a terrible thing to him anymore. The dough boys weren't there to mess things up and it was a relief, he had to give Meat credit, maybe he had been right about him caring, maybe feeling nothing wasn't what he ultimately needed. Of course there would always be some semblance of detachment to emotions, but possibly there was room for other options now.


	6. Genesis

Disclaimer: I do not own JTHM or any of the characters within the pages of JTHM…Don't sue me, you will get nothing, college students are poor.

IF YOU ALERT OR FAVORITE THIS STORY... REVIEW FOR GODDESS SAKE !!!!!! Enjoy.

Savory Sadism

Ch 6: Genesis

Devi stood by the door to the mall, waiting for Johnny and Tenna to catch up to her. Usually Tenna was the hyper one, but today Devi felt charged up, this trip was exactly what she had needed. She tapped her boot against the sidewalk as a group of cheerleaders and their jock boyfriends shoved their way past her. She rolled her eyes, but kept a smile on her face, her mood was indestructible today. She heard one of them snidely commenting on the freak with the dark blue hair, her fist clenched at her side. How could anyone pass judgment on someone they didn't know so easily, it angered her to hear people being so shallow. It had finally sank in that she had once been just as shallow, she had done the same thing, and had been just as bad.

Nny waved his hand in front of her face, breaking her out of her train of thought. "Did you die or something?"

"I'm fine." Devi snapped out of her thoughts and smiled, her hand reached up and snatched Nny's hand from in front of her face. His eyes widened at her touch, but the shock wore off once again. Her grip on his hand loosened slightly and she shifted her hand to intertwine her fingers with his, their hands fell between them as they turned and headed through the large glass doors. The trio made their way through the large shopping plaza, Devi and Tenna occasionally getting sidetracked by window displays, Johnny just being dragged along for the ride.

Devi stopped in front of a window, her free hand pressing against the cool glass as she stared into the store, her eyes settling on one item within the store. Her grip on Nny's hand tightened as she bolted into the store and began tearing through a rack of dresses, desperately searching for the dress that had caught her attention. She tore free from Nny and continued her search, when her fingers finally wrapped around the fabric of said dress, she squealed lightly causing him to flinch. Devi ran for the dressing room, not allowing her companions to get in one word.

Nny looked to the unusually silent Tenna for some form of a response but only got a shrug and a grin. Tenna squeezed Spooky a few times, causing a series of high pitched squeaks to emit from the small stuffed doll. Johnny flinched again at the high pitched noise, his hands flexed at his side in annoyance before retreating into his trenchcoat. Tenna's grin grew at his actions, as she watched his hands fishing around inside his trenchcoat, his face falling when he realized that Devi had his weapons.

"Devi is much smarter than we give her credit for...you realize that don't you." Tenna squatted down between the racks of clothing in a small attempt at comfort for the time being.

"Yea, I know that, I mean if she was able to overcome the voices then I give her a ton of credit." His eyes wandered to the ceiling as he shrugged his shoulders, dismissing the idea that Tenna was insinuating that he doubted Devi in any way.

"I said smart... I never said she wasn't mentally damaged."

"I'm sorry." Nny's eyes fell back to the floor, why was he feeling so submissive around Devi's companion. He just didn't understand it. Maybe he felt the need to make her trust him. _'If she doesn't trust you, you can always kill her.'_

Nny pulled himself out of his head, his heart pounding at the sound of Mr. Eff's voice echoing in his head, the only thought resounding now being 'Hell no, you're not welcome back, not now, not ever!'

"Johnny, I don't think you realize something... it's not your fault, well part of it was. You did a lot of damage to her. Even before you came along she was really damaged. But that's not my place to tell you, I'll leave that up to her."

Nny watched Devi walk out of the dressing room, a small smile playing on her face as she approached the counter to pay for the clothing. Tenna's words had stung him for some reason, digging under his skin for a reason he couldn't pinpoint. Perhaps it was that he wanted to see the now energetic girl that he knew as a strong, invincible person. She had taken him down easily, so why couldn't that be the case? Not that he didn't like her imperfections, but he didn't know all of them and that unnerved him.

Devi snuck up behind Nny, her slender hands tweaking his sides lightly, causing him to convulse and jump away from her touch, a squeak making its way past his lips. She giggled as he turned to face her, his fingers flexing at his sides, his self control overriding the need to strangle whomever had touched him.

She had felt him tense under her touch, drawing satisfaction from his instantaneous violent reaction. Had he had he weapons, it may have been dangerous for her to play with him like this, but that had been her intention from the start; Un-arm him, and fool around with his head for the day.

"Want to get food? I'm hungry." Her hand gripped the bag tightly as her head tilted slightly to the side, wanting an answer from either Nny or Tenna.

"I'm not hungry." Nny shrugged his shoulders, an indifferent look plastered to his pale sallow face.

Tenna giggled from the floor, standing up and squeaking Spooky in the process. " You are like... emaciated boy, you need to eat, if she won't make you eat, then damn I will."

Devi didn't throw in her response to Tenna's comment, but motioned with her finger for him to follow her out of the store.

Devi had finished ordering her food at Taco Hell, dragging Nny to the counter with her, not leaving him with the option of not eating, she knew Tenna was fine on her own. But her instincts screamed at her to take care of him, protect him like he had done for her, and she wasn't one to deny her instincts. Placing the tray of food down on the table she plopped down into the chair, Nny quickly following suit. Devi draped her trenchcoat over the chair next to her, hoping to prevent it from getting dirty. The meal continued on in silence, both enjoying their Taco's, their eyes occasionally meeting, but scanning over the crowd mulling through the food court most of the time. Tenna found her way back to the table, sitting down with her food, breaking the silence between the two with Spooky's high pitched squeak, causing both Nny and Devi to twitch.

Johnny could hear a group of people sitting a few tables away snickering at Tenna's actions, making fun of the small doll she carried. He let it breeze past him for the time being, taking note of their appearances, he would remember to hunt them down later. Their laughter increased when Devi stood from her seat to throw out her trash, his fists clenched tightly, as he heard their comments about the purple haired ugly bitch drift across the food court. He hadn't even looked up to see the anger in Devi's eyes, her lips pursed together in a scowl as she made her way toward the garbage can, her boots stomping against the floor with each step. Johnny looked up in time to see one of the girls from the group of teens heading toward the garbage as Devi headed back for their table, the girl gripped an open soda cup in her hand and a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. He moved to stand up to tell Devi to stop, but he was a moment too late. The girl bumped straight into Devi, intentionally spilling the entire cup of soda down the front of her shirt.

Devi screamed and jumped back as the ice hit her flesh and poured down into her cleavage with the soda, the beverage dripping down and soaking her pants as well. The girl smiled then mocked shock, all the while fighting off laughter as her friends cackled from their table. Devi turned on the girl and reeled back, her right fist quickly making contact with the girls jaw, she heard a pop on contact before the girl hit the floor. The food court seemed to go silent for a moment, the girls friends all ran to help their friend, one of the burly males standing in front of Devi.

"Stupid bitch." He moved to take a swing at her, she could hear Nny growling from behind her as he came to her aid. Devi took her own initiative and ducked the punch, kicking out with her steel toed boot catching him in the stomach and knocking him backward.

"Fuck off pricks." She turned on heel and stormed away from the group back to her table. She passed Nny before snatching her trenchcoat off the chair, the blades inside it clinking together menacingly. The sound of the metal caught Nny's ears as he stared at the teens before him. Yea Devi could still fuck people up, that hadn't changed one bit, she was still independent and could still protect herself that was for sure. He turned to follow her as she headed out of the food court and back toward the stores. When he finally caught up with her, she was leaning against a wall wringing her shirt out, the soda dripping to the floor. A frown was plastered on her face as Tenna stood in front of her, holding Devi's bag and her coat for her. Johnny pulled his shirt over his head with a sigh, stopping to straighten out his fishnet shirt, tucking it back into his pants.

Johnny held his t-shirt in his fist, extending it to her. She glanced up and smiled warmly at him and took the shirt from him. "Thank you, I'm going to step into the store and change my top." She pointed to a storefront and pushed away from the wall, once again leaving Tenna alone with Nny for what seemed like the hundredth time that day at least to him.

Devi emerged from the shop with a brightly colored plastic bag in her hand, all of the prep employee's cringing at her attire. Nny's shirt hung loosely around her upper body, the sleeves falling almost to her elbows. She ran her fingers through her hair, brushing the loose strands of it away from her eyes. Nny looked her up and down, a blush spreading across his cheeks, he felt like he owned her somehow, like she was now his. Seeing her in his clothing, knowing she was carrying his weapons, gave him a rush even killing couldn't provide. Although it was indeed a completely different rush he got during killing, these feelings seemed to parallel each other.

Yes he had felt threatened by her upon seeing her again, but that had faded when his need to protect her had kicked in. And while he would admit all the physical contact with her was making him edgy, he was willing to do whatever it took to get her to trust him again. He didn't want to be cold like his little cockroach friend Samsa anymore, he wanted to feel as long as it meant him having her in his life. As long as he could keep the doughboys at bay, he was fine with believing that she wouldn't leave him, and that left him with no need to immortalize the moment. Nny shook himself from his reverie, realizing he was clenching and un-clenching his fists out of nervous habit. His eyes met Devi's staring directly into his as she stood only inches away from him, his breath caught in his throat for a moment, her shining emerald eyes pierced his soul. A chill traveled down his spine, she was gorgeous even without her makeup on.

A slight smile crept onto his lips, as he reached up with a fishnet covered hand to brush her bangs away from her eyes. Yes... He was improving with his human contact issues in jumps and leaps. Devi backed away with an eyebrow raised, a cocky smirk plastered on her face. She had indeed noticed the same thing that he had as well.

"Listen I know I dragged you to the mall, and we've only been here about an hour, but one more store and we can leave, I promise." Devi had already begun walking away, motioning with a finger over her shoulder for Nny to follow behind her and Tenna. Nny followed, scuffing his boots against the floor in irritation, the mall wasn't crowded at all but that didn't mean it was where he wanted to be, he was only here because she had asked it of him.

Devi stopped walking and stood before the blacked out glass doors, she pulled the doors open and motioned for Johnny to enter first, and he did so. The doors clicked shut behind them as he looked around he realized he was in an adult superstore, surrounded by filth and sex, he cringed, feeling his fingers tingle, this was only one of the things that made him despise humanity so much. A burly black man approached Devi, putting Nny on edge, he watched the man's every move only hearing the blood pulsing through his ears. He calmed a bit upon seeing Devi and Tenna hand the man their drivers licenses, the man waved the three of them past him and into the store. Devi reached her hand out behind her, silently asking Nny to take it. He grabbed her hand as she led him away from the main portion of the store and into a corner filled with glass cases, the walls within the cases lined with gleaming weaponry.

"I got you to come here with me for a reason, sorry about all the sex and nudity in here but...after what you did for me the other day, I wanted to say thank you in more than one way. Pick anything you want in here and I'll buy it for you." Devi released his hand and smiled upon seeing the sparkle in his eyes, he looked like a child in a candy store.

"I don't want you spending money on me." Nny pressed his hands against the cool glass of the display cases

"Money isn't a problem, I owe you anyway Nny." Devi placed her hands on his waist, looking over his shoulder at the machete's he was currently drooling over.

Nny's hand slid backward, skimming along her thigh, she smiled as his hand traveled back along her thigh at an awkward angle, an eyebrow raising as she heard his fingertips tapping against the metal of his own blade. He looked back at her with a grin.

"Can I hold it?" His eyes were wide like a child in a candy store.

Devi motioned to one of the employee's behind the register, pointing to the glass case to make her point. The small woman opened the case they stood in front of.

"That one."

Johnny pointed to the shiny toy his eyes had fixated on. The woman handed it to him, allowing his thin fingers to wrap around the leather bound handle. He tested the weight in his hand, swinging the weapon slightly, gripping and regripping for several minutes before looking to Devi with a childlike glimmer in his eyes. An innocent smile settled on his thin lips, waiting for her nod of approval. Devi turned to the employee and smiled.

"We'll take two of those."

"Ok they'll be behind the counter for you."

Devi smiled and fished into the pocket of her trenchcoat, pulling her wallet out. She yanked her credit card from the tight leather pocket hugging the small piece of plastic before tossing her wallet back into the recesses of her pocket.

"Wait Devi, you asked for two? I know you said you owe me, but isn't that a bit much?" He ran his hand through his hair, a look of distress now playing on his face.

"Chill Casanova, I wanted one for myself, you haven't seen my collection of weapons yet... I guess you could say it's a hobby of mine." His mouth formed into an O as she smiled and made her way to the counter to pay. Only minutes later they made their way out of the store with two cardboard boxes, carefully wrapped in plastic bags, in a failed attempt to make the weaponry less conspicuous. They had dragged Tenna away from the store and the security guard she had been flirting with. As far as they were all concerned it was time to go home.

Devi threw the door to her apartment open and ran into the living room jumping onto the couch, and settling back against it. Tenna had gone home claiming she had things to do, Devi figured it was to call the guy from the adult superstore. Johnny shut the door behind him, placing their packages down on the floor, taking a seat on the couch beside his energetic partner. She flicked the television on searched for a movie, while attempting to kick off her fully laced up combat boots to no avail.

She settled on a channel and bent down to untie her boots, Her exposed lower back revealing a small portion of her tattoo. Johnny noticed but didn't ask questions, figuring that he would see the remainder of it in due time.

"Want a soda Nny?"

He shook his head yes and watched her skip her way into the small kitchen, but his attention was elsewhere, not drinks, but her and the details he was slowly learning about her.

"Dev... You said you have a collection of weapons,Why? I was wondering about that." He pulled his boots off and tucked his legs up onto the couch beside him, as she made her way back toward him.

"Yes, Indeedy I do. I guess I always had an infatuation with them. Even as a little girl, mom wanted me to be a normal little girl, but when she died, Daddy was content letting me play with Katana's and Nunchuks. As I got older I started to pick up an interest in Scythes, Antique and Renaissance swords, battle axes. You name it, I probably have it, and know how to handle it too." She plopped down with a satisfied smile on her face, sipping at her soda, and handing him his unopened can.

"You learned weapon fighting skills, but you didn't learn hand to hand combat? Like self defense or anything?" He popped his soda open and sipped at the fizzy liquid awaiting her response.

"Well, I learned it, but since Sickness... I kinda slip into a panic mode, I forget everything I know, I just want to hide rather than face the situation at hand. No offense, but I think that stemmed from your little "kill me" stunt." Devi shrugged her shoulders and chugged down more of her soda, missing the pained look on Johnny's face, only catching it when she heard the tone in his voice.

"Oh... So that's why you weren't able to defend yourself the other night?" Devi cringed at the tone of regret laced into his voice, she looked up to find his eyes locked on the soda in his lap, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Oh jeez... Nny, I'm sorry babe... Just a lot of issues for me stemmed from that whole incident, I don't mean to keep rubbing it in. I'm going to have to get past it, since you're back in my life." He tried to smile, forcing the corners of his lips up to the best of his ability.

"That was one pathetic smile my darlin, now this should make you smile." Devi placed her soda on the coffee table and pounced at him, spilling his soda in his lap and knocking him off the couch. He fought the itching urge to wrap his hands around her throat as he would have done to anyone other than her. Johnny succeeded and laughed lightly, his chest rising with each laugh, a cringe made itself to his face, his eye twitching lightly.

"Dev... I think.. .you tore... my wound open...crazy bitch..." He tested his boundaries as the smile remained on his face. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had genuinely been this happy.

"Oh Fuck, Sorry... Here make a deal with you, We'll clean you up, and I'll show you my weapon collection. Got it?" She brushed her fingertips over his jawline, a guilty smile on her face as she bit her bottom lip.

"Deal."

Devi had pulled his shirt over his head, and had him sitting on the closed toilet seat as she unraveled the gauze from around his slender torso. He had been right, he had bled straight through the gauze and his fishnet shirt, had it not been black it would have been more noticeable, she had given him a clean pair of baggy pajama pants to replace the sticky soda soaked ones. She poured the saline solution over the wound, the access soaking into the cloth she held below the wound to keep his pants dry and clean.

Johnny had to admit, he didn't mind her caring for him in the least, normally he wouldn't take care of wounds, just let nature... and infection... take its course before it fully healed. But she made everything so painless. What really shocked him was that he was fully able to tolerate her touching him, unlike anyone else he had ever met. It was really becoming a regular occurrence, and one he could easily get used to. Devi wrapped the fresh gauze around his torso making sure to wrap it snugly to keep it in place for the evening.

"Now I know I promised you something... butttt... I just can't remember what it was. Hmmm."

"Weapons." His voice was nearly a squeak, he was filled with excitement, she was someone else he could share his passion for weaponry with. Although his was a wee bit different from hers, he decided he would keep his mouth shut when it came to his reasoning for sharing her passion.

Johnny followed her into her bedroom and watched her slide a large thin lock case from beneath her bed. The case had to be at least 6 feet long and 4 feet wide, fitting nicely under her queen sized bed. She clicked her code into the case and flipped it open revealing a nice set of Katana's a few small battle axe's and a handful of daggers and knives.

"This is all I keep here in the apartment, the rest are at my father's house. Figured if the cops ever came to me about something the large weaponry stash might seem slightly incriminating. I have a whole room full at his house." She smiled up at him from her spot on the floor, glancing at his saucer sized eyes as they scanned over the shiny metal of the intricate bladework before him.

Oh yea... this... was love.

He knelt down beside her and reached toward the case only to find it snapped shut before he could touch anything.

"Eh, eh... one thing... gain my trust more darlin... I don't want those sweet little fingerprints of yours corroding the metal on my babies. I'll have to see you handle some of my less valuable swords first." She clicked the locks shut again and slid the large case back under her bed, sighing happily.

"One thing I know, is if I never have children, I still have babies. But those aren't for the eyes of the world." She stood up and motioned for him to follow her back to the living room.

"Why?"

"Well I say we watch a movie, order out for food and enjoy a wonderful evening, maybe I'll even show you some of my newer paintings." A quirky intonation taking over her voice. A smile made its way onto both their faces. Yea they were going to enjoy each other's company to the fullest, they both knew that.

"So then what's for dinner?"


	7. Phantasmagoria

**Disclaimer:** Do not own.... do not sue.... all you will get is ramen, 2 squirrels and 2 chihuahua's.

**Authors Notes:** So my boyfriend is strictly against my story... he's a diehard JTHM fan and hasn't grasped the idea that fanfics are based on the real thing, but are offshoots according the the authors imagination.... anyone following this, let me know what you think, I'm going to finish this anyway but hell I would like opinions.

Ch 7: Phantasmagoria

Nny sat awake for the second night in a row, Devi peacefully sleeping next to him, occasionally mumbling incoherently. He sighed and stood up from the bed, moving to look out of her window onto the street below. His eyes trailed upward to the sky, the stars weren't as visible at her place, but still shone brightly none the less. His mind zipped from thought to thought, it's main topic being Devi and their incident the previous year.

Yes he still heard Mr. Eff and Psycho Doughboy occasionally but never as bad as it used to be. It was like he developed an immunity to them at some point, but once in a while they broke through. Meat had proven to be beneficial to him, as odd as that sounded even to him, he had changed his disposition and had made him a little more human than previous. But with Meat around, he had actually had the confidence to try to even see Devi, Mr. Eff and Doughboy had simply discouraged his contact with her. Looking back at it now, he realized listening to them on many occasions had been poor judgment. Well not so much the killing, but the advice they gave when it came to his life was far from perfect. As much as his life was not perfect, they instigated his suicidal tendencies, and he was finding more and more that he really didn't want to die, at least not anymore.

Their advice on Devi almost cost him the most important thing in his life, but it took him a while to realize that this was indeed the truth. She accepted him even though she knew what his hobbies were at this point, she still cared for him after all this time, and well to be honest she didn't suck like most people did. He went over a mental checklist, finding himself unable to find too many flaws in her. And with this newfound addiction to weaponry he found in her, he was simply stunned.

Nny looked back over his shoulder at her as she turned over onto her stomach mumbling his name in her sleep. A blush spread across his cheeks, his curiosity kicking in, he wanted to know what she was dreaming about. He made his way back to the bed and sat down looking her over, his eyes following her back to the curvature of the small of her back. He hated to admit it but he was physically attracted to her as well, something he never thought he could possibly be toward any human. She struck something within him, and held on tightly.

Yet he couldn't help but feel that she wasn't the same girl he had initially fallen for. Her personality was the same, but there was something different, something darker and more controlled. She seemed to have more power than she used to, mentally at least. Not that he wasn't attracted to this new Devi, in fact he was even more so than in the past. The fact that she now put herself in control in the beginning of a situation intrigued him She had set her boundaries with him, and let him know that it was not she who would be in any danger this time but him.

Johnny heard her mumbling incoherently again, her sheets rustling as they tangled themselves about her slender limbs. Her hair was mussed around her head, sticking to the pillow in all directions,her eyeliner smudged on her cheeks, making her look like a deranged angel of some sort. He sighed as he stared at her, knowing he would eventually have to return back home, not that he wanted to, in fact he really had nothing to go back to, just his clothing and weapons that he was attached to. For some reason he found himself comfortable within her clean apartment, no dirt, no mold, no blood, no annoying solicitors, he was really getting used to this even after only 2 days.

Although he did miss Squee, and hoped the poor boys parents hadn't killed him yet.

Johnny stood from Devi's bed and made his way to her bedroom door, and headed into the bathroom. He shut the door behind himself and pulled a towel out from under her sink. Leaving her alone at night unnerved him, but then again no one else was looking to harm her, so he couldn't pinpoint why. He turned the hot water on as she had shown him earlier, setting the water to scalding. Stripping off his pants he stepped in and slid the shower door shut behind him. The water saturated his hair and poured down his flesh, a sense of calm settling into his normally tense body. His eyes slipped shut and he leaned his forehead against the cool tile. He wanted to kick himself, no other human had ever gotten to him like this before, she was all he could think about, she was like a plague a good one, but still a plague none the less. Sexual thoughts of her were no longer only in his sleeping hours but his waking hours as well now too. Since the previous day when they had been reunited those tainted thoughts flooded his mind driving him completely mad.

He shampooed his hair quickly and rinsed the suds away. For the first time in months his neck and back weren't killing him, maybe it was the atmosphere he was in or maybe it was simply her presence. Not to say that Tenna didn't annoy him at all, she did, but for Devi he was willing to put up with her, it wasn't like he had to live with her and that god forsaken squeaky toy.

The scalding hot water ran down his back, the noise within the small porcelain room fading into the distance as his thoughts took full control of his mind. A shiver shot up his spine as he thought about his rescue of Devi only two nights ago, he knew what that man was going to do to Devi, he just couldn't let him taint her like that, he refused to let anyone break her. Mmy flashed through his mind, everything he had told him before he had been slaughtered, Mmy was no better than the Mugger, nothing like Nny.

'_And though this gets me no absolution, I would never do what you did to that girl!'_

Hell had Mmy seen his misguided attempt to kill Devi, he probably would have killed her shortly after she had managed to flee. Here he was tearing himself apart mentally in her shower while she slept in the other room, he had done well for a few months, his guilt had dissipated; only recently had it returned.

Johnny turned the water off and opened the shower door, reaching for the towel resting on top of the toilet seat. He let his hair drip onto his shoulders for a moment before ruffling his hair and drying his body. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he heard a noise from the other room, he hoped it wasn't Tenna intruding again, he just wanted to climb into the bed next to Devi for the remainder of the night. He opened the bathroom door and crept into the bedroom, his hand securing the fluffy black towel around his skinny waist.

The lights from the moon illuminated Devi's room, casting an eerie glow throughout her room, her pale white skin distinguished greatly from the brownish sheets beneath her. Her chest rose and fell slowly distracting him from everything else around him, he hadn't noticed her eyes slipping open and fixating on his form as he approached her bed. A light growl rumbled through her chest escaping her mouth, causing him to jump slightly.

"What are you doing stalking around my home naked sir?" A smirk settled on her still relaxed features, causing something to stir within his stomach.

"I'm sorry, I'll get dressed, I just couldn't sleep... again." He looked down at the floor before moving to the side of the bed, reaching for the pair of PJ pants she had lent him.

"I'm kidding....come here." She motioned for him, her hand outstretched to him as she propped herself up against the pillows behind her.

Nny crawled onto the bed, his hand still grasping the towel around his waist for dear life. He stopped in front of her kneeling along her side, his brain screaming at him to back off, that the closer he was the more imminent physical contact would become. Her fingers brushed against his thigh, causing him to flinch away momentarily. Devi's smirk widened and she pressed her hand closer to his thigh, her fingers now trailing upward, his flinch became a shiver and his eyes widened at the contact.

"I've got Johnny... the homicidal maniac... in my bed, yet he cowers away from a woman's touch. You weren't so afraid yesterday....What the psychopath can't handle me?" She rose onto her knees facing him completely, his eyes widening further as they trailed down her body. He hadn't taken note of what she had fallen asleep in, his gaze swept over her once again taking in the site. Her black bra just barely held her breasts back, restraining them from his touch and hiding them from his view, the simple black boy shorts hugged her hips, just barely covering everything.

He swallowed hard, his breath hitching in his throat.

"I'm not a psychopath.....just..." His thought fled his mind completely. She really was everything he had seen in his dreams, she was the perfect imperfection that lingered inside his eyelids in the waking hours. This couldn't possibly be real.

Devi wrapped her hand around his, her fingers slipping into his clasped hand, prying his fingers away from the towel keeping him away from her. It pooled around his knees on her bed, causing a satisfied giggle to emit from her throat as he flinched away once again. She placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

"You can Kill, You can maim."

Her fingertips lightly began to drag down his chest, burning his flesh in their wake.

"You can stab, you can slaughter."

Her fingertips reached his abdomen, tracing circles around his stomach, barely brushing over the healing stab wound, and tickling the fuzz that covered his exposed skin.

"You always have the control."

Devi dragged her hands lower, one grasping his hip, the other dancing lightly over his pelvis. His eyes rolling back in his head momentarily before he honed his gaze back on her piercing emerald eyes.

"Now you're the dear in the headlights.... How does it feel to completely...lose...that...control." She whispered the last words in his ear, feeling his body shudder underneath her touch. A smirk graced her lips for only a moment.

Devi flicked her tongue out before nipping his earlobe lightly, she could feel him melting under her, even the simplest motions were causing immense reactions, she could feel his control slipping away with each passing moment. The man, who had killed thousands, was hers to play with, and in her mercy alone.

She pushed him back lightly making him lose his balance, he fell back against the mattress beneath them and looked up at her as she crawled over his body, a predatory gleam dancing in her eyes. His hands found her hips as she leaned down, biting at his neck, lightly at first, with each nip and lick her bites became harder, making him unconsciously loll his head to the side.

Devi could hear sickness in her head, urging her on, telling her what she already knew she wanted.

Her body was flush against his, their flesh pressed together, his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer against him, molding her form into him. His hands roamed her back, unsure of what to do with themselves.

She pulled away from his neck and kissed him on the lips, licking at his bottom lip, a slightly whimper coming from her throat. He opened his mouth to her and allowed her tongue to touch his, fight against his, his original resistance now dropped as her struggled fervently for domination over the kiss. His hands had finally settled on her hips, crushing them into his as he pushed up against her body.

Devi pulled her mouth from his, panting slightly, her eyes slipping shut as she regained her composure. "Nny.... I know you hate being touched, I know you hate bodily fluids...... But I need to know if you want to do this...If you don't, we need to stop now.... please just tell me." She took a deep breath calming herself, half expecting full rejection on his part.

His response was simply to flip her over, pressing her back into the mattress. He ground his hips against her, causing her to gasp. His heart throbbed in his throat, he had no idea what he was doing, he only had his dreams and thoughts to run on, but he wasn't going to let that stop him now. He kissed her hard before letting his mouth travel down her jaw, kissing and biting her skin, leaving a trail of bruises down her jaw and neck. Reaching behind her, his slim fingers fumbled with the clasp of her bra, quickly finding the task impossible he brought his hands back around and tore her bra down the center.

A slight squeak flew from her lips, but was silenced as his hand kneaded her breast, stopping to play with her nipple, teasing it into a hardened nub. Her mouth hung open taking small gasps of air, he watched her reaction and lowered his head taking her nipple into his mouth , he sucked at the soft flesh, his other hand latching onto her neglected breast. His tongue flicked across her nipple over and over again as her sucked harder, gaining a whimper from Devi. Her hand fisted into his hair tugging his head back. He bit down on her nipple making her squeal and arch into him, pushing her breast further into his face. Switching his ministrations, he flicked and twisted her nipple between his fingers, his eyes watching her every reaction.

Devi ground her hot core hard against his erection, he could feel her soaking through her panties quickly. He groaned against her flesh and bit down, he could feel his heart racing, he could feel her writhing beneath him, whimpering, and he knew that he had to have her. Devi reached between them, taking his length in her hand and pumping up and down. He bit down on the top of her breast as he bucked into her hand, the sensation overwhelming his senses.

Her free hand struggled to pull her panties off her hips, never once relinquishing her hold on his erection. She managed to kick her panties down and off her ankles, whimpering his name now, just the sound of her now husky voice made his eyes roll back into his head.

One of his hands reached up, pinning her arms over her head, both of her wrists grasped firmly in his hand, his knees wedged her legs further apart. He looked down at her with confusion written on his face.

She smiled slightly and wriggled her wrists free from his hand, wrapping herself around him she flipped them over so she was on top straddling his waist. Holding his manhood in one hand, she rubbed his tip against her dripping opening, teasing him a bit longer. She didn't give him the chance to think about it before impaling herself on his shaft, pressing her hips flush down to his letting him fill her completely. Nny's head lolled back against the pillow and a moan escaped his lips, her warmth sheathing him, the slickness of her walls almost too much to take. His hips thrust up against hers desperate for the friction between them, his hands gripped her hips tightly as he managed to push further into her heat.

"Now you can do what you want." She gasped as she ground herself against him, making his manhood hit spots she didn't know existed.

Nny grinned and flipped her back to the bottom, grabbing both of her hands and pinning them back above her, his other hand gripped tightly onto her hip as he began rocking himself in and out of her. He could feel himself gaining momentum as he thrust into her, her hips pushing upward to meet his each time, taking him into her completely, her legs pulling him in even deeper with each push. Their motions became more fluid, more in sync. His hand trailed up her body awkwardly stopping to fondle her before settling around her throat and squeezing lightly.

Devi felt her adrenaline surge as his sinewy fingers tightened around her throat just enough to excite her. She strained against his hold on her wrists, her fingers extending and grasping desperately at the air. She needed to dig her fingers into his hair, she needed to claw at his back, but the powerless feeling was driving her closer to the edge.

Devi wrenched one hand from his grasp, and grabbed at his shoulder, her hand dragging down his back, her nails scratching at the flesh and drawing blood to the surface. Their bodies clashed together, both loosing their breath, moaning into the fervent kisses shared between them. Her hand dug back into his hair pulling his head back violently, earning a hiss from his lips, he thrust into her harder in response. Devi leaned up straining against his hold on her, her tongue lapping at the sweat dripping down his chest, she moaned against his skin and wrapped her legs tighter around his waist.

She pushed to her side rolling him over, her weight pinning beneath her body, she sat up and pushed down against his hips taking him all the way into her again. Her body bounced up and down over him, his hands finding their way to fondle her breasts as she moved.

Nny could feel his body getting closer, the unusual tension growing within his body. His eyes widened and his hands tightened on her hips, calling her attention to him. Devi reached down and ran her hand over his face, she swallowed hard and gathered her composure.

"It's supposed to happen…..calm down….. just let it happen."

He moaned lightly and let his eyes shut for a moment as she continued to ride him, her hands ran over his chest, her nails leaving marks behind them. She could feel herself getting closer as his hips bucked up to meet hers, she brought herself down against him. Their flesh flush against each other as they moved together, Nny moaned her name, his arms tightening around her body. He thrust into her harder as her heard her breathing becoming more labored, as she tightened around him moaning his name in his ear.

"Devi… I'm going to…. Fuckk….DEVI!" His body shook lightly as he felt himself explode inside her, his hips stopping their movement before jerking slightly, her pussy tightened around him as he came, she herself moaning loudly. For a moment he swore he saw stars as she screamed his name and came all over him, her insides hugging him tightly. Devi collapsed against his body, her head resting on his shoulder as they panted, desperately in need of air.

"Fuck…" He rested his cheek against the top of her head, mumbling to himself as he came back down to earth. Devi laughed lightly and reached up dragging her fingers through his hair and down his cheek.

"How's that for a first time?" A smirk had plastered itself on her face as she looked up at him, basking in the shocked look on his face.

"I think we're going to need a shower." He looked down at her, gauging her response to their heated actions. A smile dawned on his lips upon seeing the smile written broadly across her face, he hadn't known what to do, he had been uneasy, nervous, slightly grossed out, but it seemed he had done something right.

"I agree completely, this is going to feel weird." Devi sat up and pulled up lightly, pulling him out of her completely soaking insides. She watched him twitch lightly under her as she reached for his towel to clean him off. Wiping the mess away from his body, she stood from the bed and headed toward her door.

"Come on, shower mister, your idea, and we do need it." She motioned for him with her finger and he willingly stood from her bed and followed her out of the room.

Devi stepped into the shower not even waiting for the water to warm up, Nny following suit still twitching lightly from their little playtime. He wrapped his arms around her from behind allowing his chin to rest lightly on her shoulder as the water splashed onto his face.

"So you don't mind touching me so much now do you?" She nuzzled her cheek against his before looking up into the stream of hot water.

"You aren't everyone else Devi... that there is the difference. Besides, if I hadn't gotten past that with you, I would have missed out on the one thing that is apparently as good as murder." Nny ran his fingers through her now soaking wet hair, his other hand resting on her slightly bruised hip.

Devi laughed lightly, reaching for the bottle of body soap she began to lather up their bodies. "I'm glad you stumbled back into my life, no matter how fucked up you are, I always did enjoy your company."

Nny simply smirked before helping her clean their bodies off.

This couldn't possibly be real, but it was.


End file.
